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Our take: 'Do one kind thing'

Posted:
12/27/2012 07:56:10 AM EST

Kristin Frey, center, explains how to make an angel ornament to Rachel Tschudy of Stewartstown, left, and Meghan Frey, 7, of Springettsbury Township at a studio in Springettsbury on Thursday. Frey is one of several York County people doing an act of kindness in response to the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. (File)

What if someone had offered a random act of kindness to Adam Lanza on Dec. 14 - or maybe the day or the evening before?

What if some generous soul had paid a restaurant tab or a toll for him, for no reason other than a desire to be friendly to another human being?

What if someone had befriended him or simply said kind, encouraging words in the days before he entered Sandy Hook Elementary School?

Could something so small and random have prevented a tragedy - in this case, or in the dismayingly long list of other cases where disturbed individuals have lashed out at innocent strangers?

It's impossible to know, and perhaps pointless to speculate, but it's an intriguing question.

It simply encourages folks to do something nice for others, and spread the word about those deeds and about kindness others have shared with them.

The page went viral, at least locally, pretty quickly, with thousand of members and hundreds sharing positive experiences and good deeds.

Ms. Wilbur is no naive Pollyanna. She's seen the bad and the darkness in society. Her husband is a police officer.

"My first thought (in reaction to Newtown) was why am I so lucky to be able to buy my kids presents? I knew there had to be something I could do."

"Something I could do."

Yes, kindness is something we all can do - if we think about it, if we get out of our own heads and wants and desires and grudges and rivalries. and just think about someone else.

And then act on that impulse.

It might not stop a killer.

But it might start movement.

And, at the very least, it seems like a more positive response to a massive shooting tragedy than heading out to a gun show - as hundreds did last weekend at the York Expo Center - to stock up on weapons and ammo.